Staff development and funding
I want to discuss the wide range of duties found in staff development and nursing education departments, and the importance of funding these activities. The finding is that adequate funding for this essential department of well-run health care organisations is very important, pays off in indirect ways, and is itself worth the investment.
Nursing education is a vast and far reaching topic. Its importance is not just in the education and training of new students, but continues through the entire career of a nurse. The ever evolving and increasingly technological profession of nursing demands constant updating and adaptation to the new realities of health care. As evidence arises from new research which challenges current practice, the need to adapt to and adopt changes must be disseminated. Health care organisations have put into place staff development departments, sometimes called nursing education despite not being limited to nursing, to provide for the educational needs of staff.
The issue of funding for nursing education, especially in staff development is a two horned one. While no one doubts the need for education and staff development, proving its cost worthiness is difficult. To demonstrate the importance of funding for staff development, there must be a less direct approach. By showing the broad scope of duties and expectations on staff development as regards to nursing, and the benefits such as recruitment and retention, the monetary benefits may be inferred. I want to point out how staff development and education departments are economical to a well-run hospital or health care organisation, as well as in seeking magnet status, and the direct or indirect cost benefits they provide.
Staff development and continuing education are shown to cover a very broad expanse of responsibilities. The importance of empowered and well functioning departments cannot be overstated, in supporting the nurses on the front lines of care. The very real cost savings in terms of infection control have been shown. While all nurses have learned the basics of hygiene in school, the importance of specialised training in critical areas has been amply demonstrated.
Education to meet the needs of specialised areas depends on those needs being identified, not only by staff members, but by mining charts to demonstrate areas of high concentrations of diagnoses, complications and patient needs. Staff development nurses are in a unique position to do this. Staff members tend to remember and identify cases that are unusual, or stand out in their memories in identifying needs, yet chart reviews show the needs of the more frequent or chronic issues to be dealt with. Since staff development nurses are looking on from the outside as it were the less notable cases are more readily found. Taking into account both nursing and patient needs leads to the courses being developed that are targeted and useful. Newly graduated nurses are coming into hospitals with an utter lack of necessary skills to function as full staff members.
Their orientation calls for preceptors and extended time on the unit in order to learn enough new skills to provide adequate and safe care. Before they can be assigned as preceptors, experienced nurses must be taught how to precept, assess skills and encourage their charges. A course of orientation, with competencies and feedback must be developed and provided. Nurses who are moving into new departments or areas of practice, but already have at least basic skills, or even expertise need a much shorter orientation. However, they do feel the need for education and courses related to their new area, which increases self confidence and thereby job satisfaction.
Even nurses who are remaining in their own sphere of expertise but are simply in a new job location expressed the need for orientation to the unit; this fortunately is a fairly short term need.
Having an excellent orientation will do much toward developing confidence and decreasing stress for new grads, and make it more likely that graduates will stay at a hospital and remain in nursing. Developing and keeping such a program up to date is definitely in the purview of staff development; as well as orientation designed to meet needs at various levels.
Staff educators can help nurses cope with all these things: from teaching nurses how to overcome systems barriers that inhibit patient care, the use of algorithms to boost confidence in one’s own ability to adequately meet new and changing situations, teaching managers and mentors of new staff about the needs of new staff and how to help them cope, and lastly in organising debriefing sessions as needed. Staff development must be responsible for providing adequate and appropriate education for nurses in order to maintain a competent and confident workforce. Staff development departments also play an important role in achieving magnet status. Hospitals and health care organisations that want to be seen as setting the standards for modern health care must demonstrate a high level commitment to staff development and education. Departments with high levels of empowerment and control of their resources are far more able to function well, and this is a factor looked for by appraisers in reviewing applications for accreditation for magnet status.
Staff development nurses and departments are responsible for a wide array of duties, beginning with orientation of new staff: from newly graduated nurses, to those returning to nursing or changing areas of practice, to experienced nurses changing location but not areas of expertise.
The educational needs of each group are different, and should be addressed differently. In addition, these departments are taking over more of the duties that once belonged to individual unit educators, as more positions are cut. Recognising and meeting individual unit or specialty needs must be done, researching the areas of interest, and presenting courses adequate to the needs. Getting continuing education credits for classes requires time and paperwork, yet to not award nurses for their limited time available for classes would be demoraliseng, especially if they then had to find credits outside the organisation in addition to required classes within. Either presenting or providing for nurses to achieve national accreditations in their specialties is also important, for when nurses feel competent in an area, their confidence and job satisfaction rises.
Keeping a workforce happy and willing to stay is especially important in today’s health care world of nursing shortages and competition for scarce resources. Investing in staff development pays off in many ways. In order to have strong staff development and nursing educators, first the training must be available for those entering this field. Nurses who transfer into the department “because there was no one else to do it” face a difficult and stressful time of learning and adjustment, simply because the scope of the job is so vast. Having an advanced practice, master’s prepared nurse in the lead position would seem to be the most desirable, yet salaries rarely reward such preparation.
Grant writing is another skill nurse educators may wish to acquire, since organisational funding is tight, obtaining outside funding would be beneficial. Involving more than one facility would increase the likelihood of receiving a grant, as part of a greater good to the communities involved.
Educating the educators is an open field, whether or not the courses lead to a higher degree academically. The need for these courses and their usefulness is clear.
The writer is a student at the Lahore School of Nursing, University of Lahore.